Baked oatmeal with carrots coconut and cardamom

Baked oatmeal with carrots coconut and cardamom I love how baked oatmeal has taken the foodie internet by storm. This humble little dish has in fact become one of my favourite warming cold weather breakfasts. It's just so amazingly tasty. By baking your porridge ingredients you end up with an almost cake like taste that works for breakfast, but also as a nice tea break snack too. I love the versatility! This is sort of a carrot cake based baked oatmeal. There are the usual carrot cake characters including loads of shredded carrots, cinnamon, raisins and walnuts and then there is [...]

Smoky cauliflower soup with turmeric sweet potatoes and red peppers

Smoky cauliflower soup with turmeric sweet potatoes and red peppers This cauliflower soup is the warming equivalent of a great big exotic hug. Roasting cauliflower until it's a smoky, caramelised hot mess really makes my day. It's a simple enough process. You throw some plain old cauliflower in a roasting pan with oil and spices, not really expecting much, but what pops back out of the oven after 30 minutes is a wondrous thing. Apart from the roasted cauliflower, the cinnamon, cumin, and turmeric work together to bring out the savoury goodness in the vegetables and the sweet potato and [...]

Moist blackberry pumpkin bread with amazing banana coconut frosting

Moist blackberry pumpkin bread with amazing banana coconut frosting Who wouldn't want to eat cake that doesn't cause your waistline to expand like the usual suspects do? This cake has zero added sugar and no flour either yet it tastes amazing. It's full of the pumpkin pie spices including cinnamon, clove and nutmeg which mix with the pumpkin to give you that lovely autumnal mix of flavours. The sweetness of the dates, pumpkin, and banana in the frosting (which I am addicted to) serve to make it taste very sweet, but the secret is pairing this natural sweetness with some superhero health [...]

Healthy breakfast recipe: coconut raspberry oatmeal

Healthy breakfast recipe: coconut raspberry oatmeal Breakfast can be a tricky meal for most of us. While I am so pleased that the word is spreading around the world that grains are generally terrible for our health, I worry that we can't reach enough people in time. I was really impressed that after doing a thorough review of the medical literature, Sweden made the first move to develop low-carb national dietary guidelines. But many people don't have time to wait for their country to catch up to Sweden. If each of us let our loved ones know that that the grains in their morning bagel, toast, [...]

Heart healthy green smoothie No. 4: The fibre firecracker!

Heart healthy green smoothie No. 4: The fibre firecracker! Today we're moving beyond basic green smoothies into health warrior territory! Black beans in my morning smoothie! What? This might seem a little weird at first, but if you think about Mexican cuisine, you remember that black beans, cinnamon, and chocolate were born to have parties together! Benefits of this green smoothie Black beans are considered one of the world's healthiest foods. They're full of protein, fibre, and powerful antioxidant phytonutrients called anthocyanins. These flavonoids are the same ones which give blueberries their amazing health benefits and help to reduce cancer risk. [...]

Green smoothie recipes to lower cholesterol: The Antioxidant Wonder!

Green smoothie recipes to lower cholesterol: The Antioxidant Wonder! How are your green smoothie or health resolutions coming along? If your blender is still hot from your last smoothie - well done!!! If you've fallen off the horse, don't worry, failure is to be expected and nothing to worry about. Just get your blender out and make yourself one of these bad boys! I have been playing with green smoothie recipes this month, and am excited to share today's heart healthy antioxidant wonder with you. I hope you will add this to your growing list of green smoothie recipes for [...]

Orange ginger oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (wheat free, gluten free)

Orange ginger oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (wheat free, gluten free) While oat week is officially over, I just had to share one more recipe from my oat week experiments. I had some trouble making a cookie that was not either rock hard or really bitter thanks to the baking soda. After finding this wonderful exposé on the gluten-free leavening agents necessary for successful baking, I did a few more tests, and voila! I finally ended up with with tasty, hard on the outside, chewy on the inside, wheat free cookies! But wait! Sin of all sins, how can cookies be [...]

Gorgeous vanilla apple crumble (wheat free, sugar free, and gluten free)

Gorgeous vanilla apple crumble (wheat free, sugar free, and gluten free) It’s Day 5 of Oat Week at The Curious Giraffe! One of my favourite ways to use oats is in an apple crumble. The trouble with most crumble recipes is the addition of wheat flour, sugar, and margarine. This recipe cunningly sidesteps these harmful ingredients, while offering a satisfying mouth feel and rich apple vanilla-spice flavouring. I've cut out the normal first step in crumbles which is to cook your apples first in a pot before baking the oat crust in the oven. In this case, we are going to simplify [...]

Zesty apple cranberry oatmeal bars with almonds

Zesty apple cranberry oatmeal bars with almonds It's Day 3 of Oat Week at The Curious Giraffe! These chewy wheat free bars are full of apples which are nutrient-dense without being energy-dense, so you can get your sweet tooth on, while still maintaining a healthy weight! I often throw one or two in my bag in the AM. They're great to have handy for coffee breaks or between meal snacks. The almond chunks get nicely toasted and the flavours of apple, lime and cranberry give the bars a nice tasty zing. These babies are dense bundles of lovely nutrition! MAIN [...]